


Take me Home

by Oli Grey (NeroliGrimm)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mutual Pining, fluff at the end, marking mature for character injury just in case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 02:46:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11095284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeroliGrimm/pseuds/Oli%20Grey
Summary: For Shancefluffweek. Day one: Black/Blue





	Take me Home

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to work around the black theme. Mostly Shiro dealing with his dark thoughts.

Blackness had been the only thing he knew for a year. Colour had dulled, greyed around the edges, his vision had been deprived of brightness. His life was pain, misery, the lost feeling that hemmed around him, never knowing which battle would be his last. He had already lost his friend and mentor. Then his hand, nothing could compare to that pain. There were so many scars both physically and mentally that had changed him forever.

He had always dreamed about space, always imagined himself exploring the places that no one had before. He never thought that his dreams would be tainted by pain and fear. No one had warned him about the dangers he had been thrown into for over a year.

He had managed to escape with a little help from someone unexpected only to be captured again by the very people who should have protected him. Four unlikely people had saved him. Then there was one that stood out from the others, one that shown the brightest of them all. He had been like the unblemished sky after a hurricane. Lance was the one thing he had never thought he needed.

The young man had settled into his life with soft smiles and gentle stares that Shiro could not dare to ignore. The edges of his black world slowly faded. The memory of his pain became a distant ache every time there was a kind touch placed on his arm.

He was thrown back into the depths of space that he had tried to leave behind, fighting the aliens that had tried to break him. He saw how the others coped with their new lives, how Pidge would do anything to find her family, Keith wanting answers about his, Hunk was a nervous wreck but did everything he could to make everyone happy around him, how Lance hid his homesickness and put the safety of others before his own.

His nights were filled with forgotten night terrors, sleep eluded him half the time and the hallways were memorized by late night prowling. He felt haggard, older than his years as he was the first to run to his lion every time they had to go out to fight. He drove his body, never resting as he made it his mission to destroy the very thing that had destroyed him.

He distanced himself – something that had never been his nature. He didn't want to burden the others with his baggage. He didn't want them to know all the horrors he had gone through; what he had done to survive. They were too innocent, too unblemished to understand and he wanted to shield them from that pain.

He would have continued to destroy himself if Lance hadn't cornered him a couple weeks after being found since his sudden disappearance following their sudden victory over Zarkon. They had handled him with kid gloves as they picked him up on a planet that he had somehow teleported himself to. The Black lion had helped knowing the distress he was in. The lion had not mentioned the ability through their telepathic bond and he had been disoriented for a while finding himself on an unfamiliar rock with onlookers puzzled on how he had materialized.

The Black lion helped the others track him down and they had been pampering him. The attention was suffocating as he found ways to escape, finding unused rooms to be alone. At least he tried and for a while he was successful until Lance had found him one night.

He would have told him to leave but the young man hadn't imposed himself on him and instead just sat next to him leaving enough space between them to not make him feel claustrophobic. The tension he had felt when Lance had entered left as they sat without speaking.

Lance wasn't one to sit idly for long and without realizing he was humming softly as fingers danced against his legs. His vocals were soothing as they chipped at the blackness surrounding him. He saw Lance in a whole new light as the other tried in his own way to help his leader. The soft lull of Lance's tune soon had him falling asleep; the first restful sleep he had since he had been in space.

Then months later Lance was nearly fatally injured in a sudden attack by a new upriser for Zarkon's place and the blackness filled back in the cracks that Lance had made ever so slightly. He watched with hidden tears as the paladins did everything to save the Blue lion as the lion fell through the atmosphere and landed hard in a messy heap too late for anyone to help.

The fears were too heavy as the others screamed to him asking him for directions, his leadership skills had not prepared him for this and Allura was the one to come through. They had pulled Lance from the wreck, bloody and lifeless. He had shutdown as Coran prepared Lance for the healing pods.

Shiro stood like a statue before the pod during the nights, watching as pain flickered over the blue paladin's face as his body floated. A week and this was the first sign of life that Lance had shown. Shiro raised a hand to hover over the screen but pulled back as if his touch was unworthy. He had failed Lance; the young man had almost died because he had not been strong enough to protect him.

The others tried to engage him with training and conversation but Shiro was locked in the blackness that consumed his mind. There was nothing that could snap him out of this phase; even Keith screamed with frustration at him with no results. The dark side of him would leer at him, mocking him with words that cut deep; the very one that Haggar had so wanted to draw forth for her own dark purposes. He screamed silently in his mind as the darkness inside him told him repeatedly that he was meant for death, how he would fail them all and lead them to destruction.

After the second week Shiro finally broke as he laid in a heap at the foot of Lance's pod. There had been no sign of life other than the rhythmic beep that measured the injured man's vitals. He was still holding on but barely. Coran was with him when he collapsed and with a morose expression he placed the weakened man in a pod next to Lance's to ensure he rested properly.

The pod healed his aching body but could not cure the turmoil in his mind. He was out sooner than Coran would have liked and ignored the others fussing as he was back on his unending vigil. There were small changes to the blue paladin's vitals but he was still too pale; too still for the usual energetic man.

The demon inside of him finally quieted down as Coran talked him into spending some time away from the med bay. He preyed on his weakness for Lance, telling him that Lance would be very upset with him if he had driven himself to an early grave. Shiro reluctantly left and every minute was spent with panic thoughts that Lance would suddenly be gone with him away, unable to do anything to prevent the other from leaving.

Then a month later without any sudden attacks from the empire, Lance awoke. He was scarred from the deeper wounds but he was alive. Shiro wanted to take him in his arms but stayed away knowing there was no forgiveness for not preventing Lance's wounds in the first place. There was a flicker over the healed face as he looked at Shiro before he was embraced by his friends.

Shiro left the room soon after Lance was checked over before Coran was satisfied on his health. He walked the familiar hallways of the castle deep in his muddled mind before weariness finally won over. He slept in his bed for the first time since Lance had been injured.

Following Lance's recovery, Shiro would watch over him from afar afraid that something would break inside him if he stood too close. He would miss the longing looks that Lance would give when his back was turned. The exchange did not go unnoticed by the others.

 

Through their travels they joined forces with other pockets of rebels. Soon their allies grew as they fought off new threats that fought for Zarkon's title. Their fight knew no rest as half the time they were fighting and regrouping while the other half was spent finding resources. Stress and lack of rest showed on their bodies but they would not relent.

They met the resistance group that had rescued Matt. He was no longer the skinny kid Shiro once knew as he fought along side them. They were informed that Sam had been lost on a mining colony and they had all spent the night with Pidge while she digested the knowledge.

Some time later the battles settled, a short period of nothing chasing them had them regrouping, settling into a rest they desperately needed. A few months of nothing but training and meeting up with allies to replenish food and fixing gear. A short time to heal wounds both mentally and physically.

They were no longer the fresh faces that had first met a blue mechanical lion in a cave in a desert. They had grown, falling into their roles to defend the universe, to protect a tiny blue planet in a spec of a galaxy so far away now that the memory was just a distant thought in the back of their minds. They were ready to die for that very thing.

Shiro would still watch over Lance, smiling on the inside every time Lance would cheer up the team. He had their backs whenever they needed help. Shiro was proud of their growth, even prouder when they challenged him whenever he needed to see reason.

Keith found him one day, looking out at the stars when everyone should have been sleeping. Keith talked to him, concerning one blue paladin. Shiro stared in awe as Keith squeezed his shoulder urging him to do the one thing that he had been afraid of ever since Lance had clawed his way into his darkness. Keith stared at him with hard unwavering eyes as he called him out on his cowardliness.

Shiro had known Keith the longest; had been close to him from the start. He had never seen Keith look so determined in something that was not involving the safety of the universe. After his speech Shiro was staring at Keith's retreating back as conflicting thoughts battered inside his mind. Without a plan in mind he set off to find Lance.

Lance had holed himself up in his lion when Shiro entered the bay. He couldn't see him but some sort of connection through the lions had him piecing together the thoughts. He ran his hand over Blue silently asking permission to enter.

He waited for a while before the lion finally opened the large jaw. He slowly made his way in and once he spied Lance in the chair he paused being the coward that Keith had pointed out. There was no movement indicated that Lance had noticed him but he knew that Lance was waiting for him to make the first move.

Shiro sat on the floor in front of Lance making sure to look up, eye contact was to be made if they wanted the truth of their feelings. So Shiro spilled everything. The fears he felt, the blackness inside of him that he was afraid that would spill out one day, the terrible feeling of guilt when Lance had almost died. Then he spoke of the spark of light that Lance had lit inside of him, the feelings that he had tried so hard to keep at bay. He asked for forgiveness for the tears that he had caused Lance to shed, only knowing of them when Keith had blown up at him.

Once he was finished he broke eye contact afraid that his words had been too late. Lance hadn't moved a muscle throughout his speech, his face emotionless. Minutes went by and Shiro felt a deep twitch in his gut as his fears became true; but then there were hands cupping his face gently, drying the wetness on his cheeks that he had not felt. Soft touches were placed over his face as Lance's lips traveled a broken wet trail over the skin.

Shiro pulled him close, holding him tight as broken sobs escaped his body. Lance spent the next hour comforting him as he sang gently. The song unfamiliar to him but somehow knew this was something from Lance's childhood that he was sharing with him.

That night was spent holding each other with gentleness that had eluded them for so long. The day was spent holding each others hand, too afraid to break any form of contact. Shiro no longer stood afar and he did not break apart like he feared as he stood so close to the person that had brought light to his bleak world.

Their peaceful time did not last much longer as a fresh wave of battles descended upon them from Lotor's command. They only fought harder and without mercy as they found new purpose. There were a lot of battles won and lost but soon they had the prince cornered. The prince surrendered finally when all his sources had been taken from him.

Their victory had been swift and unexpected. They were still far from calming the aftermath as they soothed out clusters of resistance. The rest they sought for would not be for some time but they found relief in small moments when they could. Shiro would look at Lance with fondness as the other helped resettle prisoners they found along the way. Lance would stand next to Shiro with pride whenever they spoke with the leaders of freed planets.

They had made a home on the castle throughout their time in space. They had found family they could call their own within that spaceship. Though they still longed for the comforts of the earth they left behind they knew their home was with each other.

 

Years later Shiro and Lance would be curled against each other in a soft bed that they had been too afraid to dream about on a tiny blue planet in a spec of a galaxy that they had been familiar with for most of their early years. The window above them overlooking a small beach town that during the day echoed with the melodies of children's voices wafting through with fresh sea air. The surroundings was therapy to their battered minds and body; healing scars that they would live with until they were one with the earth again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope the ending was fluffy enough. I wanted to write more but it just seemed better with this.
> 
> The other days will be my art and I'll be posting them to my tumblr/twitter.  
> Tumblr: neroligrimm.tumblr.com artblog: oligreyart.tumblr.com  
> twitter: neroligrim


End file.
